


Joey Junior

by thegraeyone



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Established Relationship, Other, digital pets, nonbinary duke, professional duelist joey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 11:43:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21493729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegraeyone/pseuds/thegraeyone
Summary: “Wow,” was all she said as their plates came up. “Didn’t realize you were that far along already.”Duke’s fork paused over their own plate. “What do you mean?”“It’s his favorite one,” she said with a laugh. “I think he’s had it since middle school. He named it Joey Junior. It’s basically his son.”While Joey is at a tournament, Duke is left taking care of his most precious digital pet. It can't be that hard to screw up, right?
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Otogi Ryuuji | Duke Devlin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	Joey Junior

Duke knew they were late to lunch, and speeding through Domino’s downtown district wasn’t really going to fix that, but it gave them a sense of satisfaction as they breezed through a yellow light. They wove around the pedestrian crossing, eying the cafe in question, and as their gaze swept the surrounding shops for parking, a high pitched electronic chirp sounded from the inside of their bag. They groaned. Of course it had to start going off now. Their hand roamed the passenger seat, hunting for their bag as they cut across the lanes to ease into a parking garage. It wasn’t until they pulled into a spot their fumblings found any leverage. Duke jammed the parking brake on and pulled open the bag.

The stupid thing must’ve fallen to the bottom. They dug through their game samples and concept pieces but they were coming up empty, and now their phone was going off. Finally their hand curled around the small plastic egg, and they pulled it free, grabbing their phone and keys along with it, and they slammed the car door shut behind them.

“Shut up,” they muttered and looked at their phone instead. Three texts from Serenity asking where they were and one saying she was in line. They hurried to the cafe and found her in the midday crowd, already near the front of the line.

“Hey,” she said. “You’re late.”

“Not technically.” They slid in place beside her. “You haven’t ordered yet.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, but you--what is that?”

Duke sighed and lifted the plastic egg. It was dark red and glittery with a small screen in the middle showing a pixel character that appeared to be a goofy square with little stick legs. It chirped endlessly, and bowed its head mournfully. Serenity stared at it wide eyed.

“Your stupid brother left it with me,” they said.

“Of course he did.” She huffed and turned to the menu. “He’s at that tournament all week, right?”

“A few more days.” The tapped it against their palm. “How do I get it to shut up?”

“I wrap it in a couple of socks and stick it in a drawer.” She eyed it, distrustful. “He has like six of those things. I can’t stand them.”

The chirping didn’t stop. Duke fiddled with the buttons as the line inched forward.

“He give you one too?” they asked.

Serenity shook her head. “Once, and then it  _ died _ . He was so mad too, but it got me out of every babysitting it again. Why would you make a digital pet that you can neglect? Isn’t that sick? Anyway, I think he usually gives them to Yugi. Tristan told me he refuses.”

“I didn’t know I could say no,” Duke whined. “I really hate this thing. Oh, I think…”

The line inched forward, but they were distracted by the food icon they’d found. Somehow, there were only three buttons on this thing, and they still couldn’t figure out how to click it. Finally a hamburger filled the tiny pixel screen. The beeping stopped as the square chowed down on it. They breathed a sigh of relief and tossed the thing back into their bag. The line inched forward enough that the pair of them could give their order.

“Which one did he give you?” Serenity asked as they waited with their table numbers in two seats at the counter.

“Hm?” Duke plopped their bag onto the counter, placing a buffer between them and the man that was giving a stink eye over his soup and sandwich. When they turned back to Serenity, she was pointing to where the silenced egg was nested. “Oh, he called it Joey Junior, which I only remember ‘cause I made fun of him for like twenty minutes after.”

They expected her to laugh, but instead her expression stilled, and her voice was a little shocked when she said, “He gave you that one?”

Duke shrugged. “Yeah. Why?”

“Wow,” was all she said as their plates came up. Serenity ate like her brother with a plate packed with sandwich meat and fries and green things. The Wheeler metabolism remained a sight to behold. “Didn’t realize you were that far along already.”

Duke’s fork paused over their own plate, a far more peckish sampling. “What do you mean?”

She hummed lightly. “I guess you’ve been dating a long time, especially for my brother. I can’t believe he gave you that one though.”

“Why?” Duke quickly reached into their bag, removing the tiny egg. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s his favorite one,” she said with a laugh. “I think he’s had it since middle school. He named it Joey Junior. It’s basically his son.”

“It’s a few pixels on a screen, Serenity.” They shook it, as though that would do anything. “It can’t be that important.”

She shrugged. “He loves it. I can’t believe he still has it too. Anyway, I recommend doing what I did and toss it in a drawer somewhere. He’ll never ask you to take care of it again, I promise.”

“You can’t tell me that,” they said. “You can’t say it’s the thing he loves most in the world and then tell me to let it die.”

“It’s probably not that,” she said and put a fry in her mouth. “Top five, maybe.”

“Serenity!”

“What?” She gestured to it. “Like you said, it’s maybe ten whole pixels on a screen. He’ll get over it. If my brother held grudges, you wouldn’t even be dating.”

“You’re so not helpful.” They stabbed into their salad. “He’s definitely testing me, right? This is a test? I’m so bad at tests.”

“Oh, Duke.” She held out her hands to them, and with a breath they allowed her to fold her palms around theirs. “I forget you’re also terrible at relationships. All Joey is trying to say is that he trusts you. And your two options are to respect the wishes of a man who still acts like he’s thirteen years old, or ignore it completely and then find a way to make it up to him later. Either way, you’ll be okay.”

“You’re really bad at giving advice,” they said as they drew their hands back.

Serenity smiled and returned to her food. “Then take care of it. He’ll be impressed I bet, but don’t blame me if he keeps asking you to babysit.”

Duke narrowed their eyes at the egg and pressed some buttons. The square chirped again, giving them mournful eyes. They clicked a button, and a wave washed across the screen. Somehow, this made the square happy.

“This is so stupid,” they muttered, and beside them Serenity laughed.

\---

Duke’s apartment was quiet in the late afternoon. They stooped over the short table in their living room, head ducked in concentration as they fiddled with a number of gridded papers. They’d been working on a new concept for the past couple of months, and they felt pretty close to satisfied with what they had. Maybe once Joey was back, he could convince Yugi over to mess with it with them, firm up some of the ideas, do a test run. What they really needed was some solid concept art. They’d have to get in touch with their usual artists and then--

A chirping broke their concentration, and they let out a groan as their head sunk to the table. The stupid digital pet was going off again. The first few days they hadn’t known what to do with it, but a quick internet search and a browse of the wiki meant they’d figured out the basic functions. Joey Jr. had survived the first half of the week under their less than stellar care, so the last few days should be easy, right? Except it went off all the time, and usually at the worst moment. Duke lifted the egg up and considered tossing it over their balcony. Serenity was right. Joey would forgive them, maybe.

But he’d be so much happier if Duke actually looked after it. He’d probably get that big goofy grin on his face and wrap his arms around them and then probably lift them up off their feet because he loved doing that and they only kind of hated it. He was always so tired after tournaments too, and it’d be something nice for him to come home to, a happy and healthy digital pet. He’d probably thank Duke for doing that for him.

They sighed and fed Joey Jr. a hamburger.

“You’re such a weird little guy,” they muttered. The pet only grinned widely at them before returning to dancing around the screen.

They’d figured out most of the functions by now. Play, eat, clean. They’d worked it into their  _ schedule _ , taking time to feed it and mess with it before taking a phone call or running off to some event. And they swore it was fewer and fewer hours between when the thing got hungry, or needed attention, or got sick. It was sick all the time, which was crazy! They were taking care of it! Why wouldn’t the stupid thing shut up?

An icon blinked, and the square dipped its head down sadly. Duke stared at the screen. It walked back and forth, legs moving jankily. With a frown, they clicked the bath icon, and it shook its head. They tried to feed a snack, and it chowed down without enthusiasm. They gave it medicine, and it only moved back and forth on shaky legs. It chirped at Duke. Then, the square knelt down, collapsing sadly on the ground.

Duke stood straight up. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. It was dying! They could feel it in their heart and soul. This was the square’s death knell.

“I took care of you!” they shouted. “I cleaned up your goddamn poops!”

The square continued to quake, uncaring of their plight. This was bad. This was worse than bad. This was Joey’s third favorite thing in the entire world, this was his son, and he’d entrusted it to Duke who’d killed it. What had they done wrong? Had they fed it too much? Not enough? They scrambled for their phone. A quick search proved nothing. People talked about “care mistakes” and point reductions. There were points? Serenity was right, this game was messed up. They panicked, and then panicked some more, and the last thing they wanted in a panic was to be left alone.

Which was how, twenty minutes later, they were at Tristan’s place, banging on the door.

“Hey,” Tristan said warily as he opened the door. “What’s--”

Duke thrust the egg in his face. “I killed it. Joey trusted me with his spawn and I murdered it. It’s dying. He’s never gonna forgive me because I killed his son.”

Tristan took a long look at the digital pet in their hand and then Duke’s harried expression. He nodded slowly, putting the pieces together.

“I’m gonna make you a coffee,” he said and let them in.

“I tried,” Duke said as they paced around his living room. Tristan set the coffee to pour and returned to the couch, picking up the egg. “I did everything, mostly. Maybe I should’ve played with it more. Serenity just got in my head about it! It’s Joey’s favorite thing!”

“He has so many of these.” He turned it over in his hands. “You should really call Yugi. They have one of these together they still trade back and forth.”

They fell dramatically into the chair across from him, slinging their arms over the sides. “Will he hate me?”

Tristan laughed. “Nah, dude. It’s not even a real pet.”

“It’s real to him,” they murmured.

“Look.” He held up the egg. “There’s a reset button on the back. Your problems solved. If it dies, just hit that, and it’s like it never happened.”

They glowered at him. “That’s not an answer. That’s a contingency plan.”

“I don’t know!” He set it on the coffee table. “I had one for like a minute, but it’s really not my thing. You’re really freaking out about this, huh?”

“Yes!” they shouted and made sure their pose was appropriately consumptive. “Joey trusted it with me, okay? It matters to him. What does it say if I show it to him and I killed it? And why are you laughing?”

Tristan shook his head, still grinning. “The two of you are just funny. You should be a real disaster on paper, you know?”

“Don’t say that,” they groaned.

“I thought for sure you wouldn’t last three months. I thought you’d kill each other before then, honestly. All you ever did was mess with him.” Tristan beamed at them. “You really like him.”

Duke rolled their eyes. “It’s established. We’re dating.”

“You know what I mean,” he said.

He stared down Duke, and Duke stared back. There’d been a time, at the start of this relationship, when Tristan had sat down with Duke and given them The Talk. He’d been absolutely clear the consequences of screwing with Joey, of potentially not taking this seriously. Yeah, okay, maybe their track record with relationships before this was, well, nonexistent, and Joey’s wasn’t much better. Now they were nearing a year. Now Duke was wasting their Friday afternoon and Tristan’s trying to keep a fake alien alive for the fear that Joey might be, what? Disappointed in them? This was Joey’s toy. It was his pet. And he’d trusted Duke with it. Maybe he wouldn’t declare they were dead to him, but it would prove what Tristan had warned them against. That they didn’t care. That they’d taken this responsibility and viewed it as something frivolous. That, at the end of the day, they weren’t really in this.

The egg chirped on the table between them. Duke shot up and grabbed it. They cradled it in their palms as Tristan got up to stand behind them. The little square closed its eyes, hanging its head into the ground. The screen flashed, and what replaced was a tombstone and the tiny ghost of the pet floated out of it.

“Wow,” Tristan said as Duke made a choked noise. “Bummer.”

They stared up at him, lifting up the egg to the heavens. The ghost bounced back and forth.

“I’m dead,” Duke said.

“When does Joey get back?” he asked.

“Tomorrow,” they said mournfully. 

He patted their shoulder. “I’d reset if I were you. He’ll definitely want a better welcome home present than what you got there.”

Duke stared at the ghost in their palm. This was it. The end of things. Say goodbye to macking with Joey hardstyle, because that ship was about to sail.

\---

Duke tapped their phone against their knee as they sat in a chair in their living room. Joey had texted half an hour ago. He’d gotten back today, some time after noon, and they were supposed to get dinner together. The egg rested on the coffee table, the ghost staring up at the ceiling. Five times they’d come at it with a paper clip, intent to do good on Tristan’s suggestion, but they couldn’t do it. Lying to Joey was worse.

A knock at their door drove Duke to their feet. They threw it open, and there he was. Joey was dressed exactly how he always was, blond hair perfectly messed with to hang over his brown eyes. A jean jacket was pulled over a simple green shirt. He opened his mouth in greeting, but Duke had already dragged him down so they could properly plant kisses across his face. He laughed, wrapping his arms around them so he could lift them up in a hug.

“Stop!” They wrapped their arms around his shoulders. “I hate when you do that!”

Joey planted a kiss on their cheek. “You love it.”

He set them back down on solid ground. Duke hadn’t expected to be so thrilled seeing him again. They’d missed him. It was a weird feeling. They were so used to caring about themself, that they were overwhelmed with how much they cared about someone else.

“I’m starving,” Joey said. “You ready for dinner?”

“You should sit for a minute.” They pulled him inside. “You’ve been running around all day. Did you bring back a trophy? Is it big?”

“You’ll have to come over and see it,” he said. 

“Before we start making promises,” Duke said, “I have to tell you something.”

“What’s up?”

They sucked in a breath and picked up the digital pet from the table. Joey gave them a quizzical look as they dropped it into his palm, and then understanding when he saw the image it displayed. They looked up at him, chewing on their lip.

“I’m so sorry,” they said. “You gave it to me to take care of, and I killed it. You asked me to do one thing, and I ruined it forever.”

Joey watched the screen blink at him. “Duke.”

“I tried, I really did. I fed it and I played with it and it somehow still died and it’s okay if you never forgive me and wanna break up with me I’ll understand.”

“Duke,” he said with a laugh. “This thing’s from like 1997.”

“Yeah!” They buried their face in their hands. “Serenity said it was your favorite one and it’s your son and I murdered it!”

“Okay, that explains it.” He took their hand and placed the egg in their palm. “Serenity hates these. Did she tell you to put in a drawer?”

“Yes!”

“Okay.” He rolled his eyes. “You did take care of Joey Jr. He died of old age. This is, like, the 600th version of him.”

Their eyes widened. “What?”

“This is generation one. Look.” He tapped the screen. “Push this button.”

Duke eyed him and then pressed the center screen. The ghost disappeared, and from it an egg appeared. It cracked, and a small blob came out of it.

“You did a good job,” he said. “You took such good care of him that he laid an egg. You only get that if you really take care of it.”

“What--but you--you  _ knew _ ?”

“I thought it might die,” he admitted. “I gave you an adult Tamagotchi. No offense, Duke, but I can’t really trust you not to put metal in the microwave. But you did a good job! You made another Tomagatchi!”

Duke cradled the pet. “So I didn’t screw it up?”

“Of course not,” he said. “And I wasn’t going to break up with you over it. I’d normally give him to Yugi, but he’s got his hands full. I thought it’d be fun.”

“Fun?” they gasped. “You put me on babysitting duty! This thing barely has functions, Joey, and it kept screaming at me, and then it  _ died _ . I thought I killed your son.”

“Your son now,” he said. “That’s your baby.”

“It--” They curled their hand around it. “What do you mean it’s mine?”

“You made that little egg happen. It’s Joey Jr. Jr.”

They stared at it. The tiny blob bounced happily. “Oh.”

“But you don’t gotta keep it.” He reached to take it. “Next time I’ll ask Tristan, he always owes me something.”

Their hand pulled back. “Well, I--I mean it wasn’t so bad. It’s mine, right? You said it. No takebacks.”

Joey laughed and wrapped an arm around their shoulder. “Fine, no takebacks. But if you get bored with it in a week--”

“I won’t,” they promised. “Are we stuck on the name Joey Jr.?”

“It’s yours, babe.” He dipped down to plant a kiss on their forehead. “I am starving though.”

They laughed. “On it. Let me grab a jacket.”

They wormed free of his touch and grabbed their black jacket off the back of their chair. They opened their palm and glanced at the egg before stuffing it into their jacket pocket. When they turned around, Joey was grinning.

“Come on,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’ll tell you what Weevil did at the tournament.”

Duke took it, slipping their other hand into their pocket so they could feel the digital pet that remained there, Joey and Joey Junior on either side.


End file.
